Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
The Backyard Brawl - Time Marches On
December 10, 2017 01:23 PM | Men's Basketball, Blog
PITTSBURGH - There were some moments when Saturday night's Backyard Brawl felt like the Backyard Brawl we once remembered.
The Oakland Zoo was full, almost - the Panther crazies hopping up and down in their faded yellow t-shirts chanting "13-9" in response to the "Let's Go Mountaineers" coming from above.
A smattering of Pittsburgh celebrities were in the Petersen Events Center, too. I saw Pirates owner Bob Nutting, a Wheeling resident, working the crowd. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, emboldened by his new seven-year contract extension, was visible with a bunch of football recruits at Saturday night's game.
And there were a few fleeting moments on the floor, too.
Embattled Panther coach Kevin Stallings got a T voicing his displeasure about something he didn't like after Jevon Carter's 3 put West Virginia ahead 32-18.
Later, Carter was sent flying into the second row while attempting a driving layup (no foul was called, which was somewhat surprising considering whistles blew 42 times during the night!). The officials had to go to the monitor once on Daxter Miles Jr.'s offensive foul, awarding the senior a flagrant one for his efforts.
There was the deafening roar that erupted with 5:31 remaining when freshman guard Marcus Carr, who appears to have the makings of being a pretty good player, completed a four-point play to pull the Panthers to within two points of the lead.
Following Carr's play, the Panthers scored just one point - a Shamiel Stevenson free throw - the rest of the way and the 18th-ranked Mountaineers left Pittsburgh with a 69-60 victory.
The kids from the Zoo quietly exited the arena, looking forward to Christmas vacation and whatever lies ahead for Panther sports.
It's anybody's guess what that will entail.
A portion of Stallings' postgame remarks revolved around the improved atmosphere in the Pete - once a graveyard for opposing coaches.
After playing before sparse crowds of 3,102, 2,685, 3,317, 2,399 and 2,333 against non-descript, non-conference opponents, the 7,748 who showed up and paid $90 to watch Saturday night's game were a revelation.
Unfortunately for Pitt, about half of them were wearing the Flying WV and those people won't be coming back for another two years.
"Our fans are great," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "They aren't afraid to travel."
Not only could you see it, you could hear it late in the first half when the Mountaineers were leading by 18 points and Stevenson stepped to the foul line to try two free throws.
Instead of a hushed silence that is expected from the home fans to help him concentrate, he was serenaded to a loud chorus of "Let's Go Mountaineers!"
That's not the Petersen Events Center we all remember when Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon had things rolling here a decade ago.
You get a sense that the common Pittsburgh fan has never really embraced Pitt's move to the ACC and long for the old days in the Big East when arch rivals Villanova, Connecticut, St. John's and, yes, West Virginia were playing annually in the Pete.
But those days are long gone, never to return.
"It was different because we were in the same league," Huggins said of the rivalry's renewal. "We played home and home every year so that part of it has changed. Playing each team in the Big 12 twice is hard, man, and what West Virginia and Pitt used to do playing in the Big East twice a year is hard.
"Back then, when we got fairly good and they stayed good everybody else played South Florida, DePaul and St. John's twice and we're playing each other twice," Huggins said.
The ties between the two schools today are superficial. Huggins, who participated in the rivalry as a player and sat through several unsuccessful moments in this building as a coach, had to spend a good amount of time educating his players about the history of the series, which dates back to 1906.
How much of it stuck with them is anybody's guess, especially the way they played in the second half letting a comfortable lead nearly evaporate.
Stallings, a Collingsville, Illinois native, has no history with West Virginia. His basketball experiences were first formed in the Midwest as a player at Purdue, and later at Vanderbilt for 17 years as its coach.
With the exception of one game against Huggins' West Virginia team in Puerto Rico six years ago while he was coaching the Commodores, Stallings' knowledge of the Mountaineers is mostly second hand.
There was no Gale Catlett around to needle the Panthers by calling them "a mediocre program," no Roy Chipman chasing down official Jack Prettyman for his "chicken-$#@!, Mickey Mouse" calls nor football coach Dave Wannstedt talking about building walls around the Steel City to keep the Mountaineers out.
Which is probably why the city's most prominent sports columnists and talking heads were across town covering the Penguins game against the Maple Leafs, a 4-3 loss.
That was rarely the case when these two teams were trying to poke each other's eyeballs out during the rivalry's heyday in the Big East.
But again, those days are long gone, never to return.
"We used to walk in here an hour-and-a-half before the game and the students were already jumping up and down," Huggins said. "The place was full. This was one of the harder places in the Big East to play, if not the hardest."
There will be more people at next year's game at the Coliseum, for sure, but will it hold the same meaning that it once did when all those unforgettable phrases such as "West-By-Gawd Virginia" and "#ESP" were created?
Probably not.
Before the Panther players were escorted into the media room, a Pitt student photographer walked past me softly murmuring "13-9" a couple of times before putting his stuff down.
Then he sat down and quietly went to work.
Time marches on.
The Oakland Zoo was full, almost - the Panther crazies hopping up and down in their faded yellow t-shirts chanting "13-9" in response to the "Let's Go Mountaineers" coming from above.
A smattering of Pittsburgh celebrities were in the Petersen Events Center, too. I saw Pirates owner Bob Nutting, a Wheeling resident, working the crowd. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, emboldened by his new seven-year contract extension, was visible with a bunch of football recruits at Saturday night's game.
And there were a few fleeting moments on the floor, too.
Embattled Panther coach Kevin Stallings got a T voicing his displeasure about something he didn't like after Jevon Carter's 3 put West Virginia ahead 32-18.
Later, Carter was sent flying into the second row while attempting a driving layup (no foul was called, which was somewhat surprising considering whistles blew 42 times during the night!). The officials had to go to the monitor once on Daxter Miles Jr.'s offensive foul, awarding the senior a flagrant one for his efforts.
There was the deafening roar that erupted with 5:31 remaining when freshman guard Marcus Carr, who appears to have the makings of being a pretty good player, completed a four-point play to pull the Panthers to within two points of the lead.
Following Carr's play, the Panthers scored just one point - a Shamiel Stevenson free throw - the rest of the way and the 18th-ranked Mountaineers left Pittsburgh with a 69-60 victory.
The kids from the Zoo quietly exited the arena, looking forward to Christmas vacation and whatever lies ahead for Panther sports.
It's anybody's guess what that will entail.
A portion of Stallings' postgame remarks revolved around the improved atmosphere in the Pete - once a graveyard for opposing coaches.
After playing before sparse crowds of 3,102, 2,685, 3,317, 2,399 and 2,333 against non-descript, non-conference opponents, the 7,748 who showed up and paid $90 to watch Saturday night's game were a revelation.
Unfortunately for Pitt, about half of them were wearing the Flying WV and those people won't be coming back for another two years.
"Our fans are great," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "They aren't afraid to travel."
Not only could you see it, you could hear it late in the first half when the Mountaineers were leading by 18 points and Stevenson stepped to the foul line to try two free throws.
Instead of a hushed silence that is expected from the home fans to help him concentrate, he was serenaded to a loud chorus of "Let's Go Mountaineers!"
That's not the Petersen Events Center we all remember when Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon had things rolling here a decade ago.
You get a sense that the common Pittsburgh fan has never really embraced Pitt's move to the ACC and long for the old days in the Big East when arch rivals Villanova, Connecticut, St. John's and, yes, West Virginia were playing annually in the Pete.
But those days are long gone, never to return.
"It was different because we were in the same league," Huggins said of the rivalry's renewal. "We played home and home every year so that part of it has changed. Playing each team in the Big 12 twice is hard, man, and what West Virginia and Pitt used to do playing in the Big East twice a year is hard.
"Back then, when we got fairly good and they stayed good everybody else played South Florida, DePaul and St. John's twice and we're playing each other twice," Huggins said.
The ties between the two schools today are superficial. Huggins, who participated in the rivalry as a player and sat through several unsuccessful moments in this building as a coach, had to spend a good amount of time educating his players about the history of the series, which dates back to 1906.
How much of it stuck with them is anybody's guess, especially the way they played in the second half letting a comfortable lead nearly evaporate.
Stallings, a Collingsville, Illinois native, has no history with West Virginia. His basketball experiences were first formed in the Midwest as a player at Purdue, and later at Vanderbilt for 17 years as its coach.
With the exception of one game against Huggins' West Virginia team in Puerto Rico six years ago while he was coaching the Commodores, Stallings' knowledge of the Mountaineers is mostly second hand.
There was no Gale Catlett around to needle the Panthers by calling them "a mediocre program," no Roy Chipman chasing down official Jack Prettyman for his "chicken-$#@!, Mickey Mouse" calls nor football coach Dave Wannstedt talking about building walls around the Steel City to keep the Mountaineers out.
Which is probably why the city's most prominent sports columnists and talking heads were across town covering the Penguins game against the Maple Leafs, a 4-3 loss.
That was rarely the case when these two teams were trying to poke each other's eyeballs out during the rivalry's heyday in the Big East.
But again, those days are long gone, never to return.
"We used to walk in here an hour-and-a-half before the game and the students were already jumping up and down," Huggins said. "The place was full. This was one of the harder places in the Big East to play, if not the hardest."
There will be more people at next year's game at the Coliseum, for sure, but will it hold the same meaning that it once did when all those unforgettable phrases such as "West-By-Gawd Virginia" and "#ESP" were created?
Probably not.
Before the Panther players were escorted into the media room, a Pitt student photographer walked past me softly murmuring "13-9" a couple of times before putting his stuff down.
Then he sat down and quietly went to work.
Time marches on.
Players Mentioned
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